markemorse

Why this exception, if it's not generally considered unprofessional? Not to split hairs, but your stockbroker example is one where "the patron can hear", you being the patron of your stockbrokers' services...right? But sure, I think your two rhetorical "could it be" questions deserve an unspoken "yes"... And thanks a lot for the great Pinker article (the second one, the first puff piece kind of just makes me want to swear)... +++

I don't see how cursing or not cursing is professional or not professional. I mean, do people really think coarse language is relegated to "blue collar" type jobs? So, doctors, lawyers, businessmen/women, teachers, real estate brokers, computer programmers, etc. don't curse? Lol. Seriously, will you please explain to me how not cursing equals professionalism? Now, I can see wanting to raise the level of certain behaviors to appear more professional...things like showing up on time, organization, focus, drive, efficiency, etc. But I don't think cursing has anything to do with being professional or not. ← It also seems like there might be a somewhat misguided equation hinted at somewhere upthread that correlates swearing with aggression or anger, when for me and my co-profaners it's levity- or affection-based 9 times out of 10.

i think you might be right, don't know why i assumed the green kind...so we shan't ignore anyone's posts except mine.

Hate to have this be your first recommendation, but you must try a "Turkish pizza", or lahmacun. They're everywhere over here, and you'll be hard-pressed to find better food to spend 2 euros on. Order it "with everything", which is essentially, salad, tzatziki, and chili sauce.

We watched the episode again last night. Lots of melodrama in such a bad episode. Agreed that Andrew could not pass a drug test. He was tweaking so bad it made me grind my teeth for him. I can't see him leaving without getting in Collichio's face with a string of f bombs. ← Just saw Andrew for the first time, and he is indeed painful to watch...my money's on amphetamine psychosis before the season's over...

We have been talking about the "other" endive, though...right? The green sort (disambiguation thread here)...

This is my favorite way to eat it...also very popular here to make it into a stampot, basically a potato mash with lots of shredded endive throughout...here's Chufi's recipe.

I enjoyed adding my salad to it as well, to create a more shwarma-y option for every third bite or so. it was great!

a few omelettes? we have on occasion also turned our leftover romesco into a sort of tapenade by adding a good amount of finely chopped green olives to the mix.

Maybe it needs more coconut milk. The dessert looks wonderful (both versions). I wondered why nobody cooked this easy recipe before. Maybe they were put off by "purple rice"? Too weird sounding? But the dessert is elegant. Maybe it should have been called "Black & White Rice Pudding." ← Or even "Black Rice Pudding" sounds a bit less alien than "purple rice". At least black rice sounds dark and mysterious, purple just sounds cartoony and unnatural. Of course, the resulting rice is purple, but black beans aren't really all that black either, y'know? Maybe people didn't cook it b/c it's tough to find black rice? Dunno...but if you like rice pudding at all, you should try this. I was reeely tempted to put a cardamom pod in with the rice while it was cooking, but I didn't. I think the next time I make it, I might do this.

Here is Purple Rice with Coconut Milk: Very delicious. Technically speaking, not too much to report here, as this is a very simple recipe....but I think I didn't quite cook this aggressively enough because it took 90 minutes or so to get to the puddingy point. The salted coconut milk is an interesting addition. I wasn't sure how we'd feel about it, so I only added a little bit for the above picture. But, as in so many other cases, this is an example of more coconut milk making things better...I preferred it with the following amount of coconut milk: Is that wrong? +++

I had a huge portion of this potential nostalgia ruined for me by moving to Europe and getting used to "real chocolate". So all manner of childhood staples, from a simple Hershey's Kiss to the, eh...also pretty simple Reese's PBC, KitKat, even Russell Stover...it's all kind of nasty tasting to me these days. Bummer. Things that make the cut: Fritos. Oreos. Snickers is pretty much the only US candy bar I can still enjoy. I had a Charleston Chew last time I was back, and that wasn't too bad. And I just ate a rum-raisin caramel here in Amsterdam that reminded EXACTLY of something I used to eat all the time as a kid in America but I have no idea what. Don't think it was Kraft Caramels, though. Incredibly nostalgic, nonetheless. Now you've got me going...I need a Fresca and a bag of Fritos, stat.

It seems as though we often accept the unacceptable as a normal course of business-in this case swearing in the kitchen-... ← I'm agreeing with melkor: there's been lots of profanity at every "top, professional" job I've ever worked, and I truly can't see how it's had any effect at all on actual performance or perceived professionalism to the customer. But that's me. I also enjoy the F-word a great deal, thus swearing in the kitchen is completely acceptable to me.

Tawandaland, indeed. ETA:

It's true, you really only need a very little bit of butter to achieve the desired effect: we've been putting a tbsp of butter and a few shakes of soy sauce in our morning bulgur for several years now...excellent comfort food.

Wow, the fish looks great and worth any fuss. I bet these two dishes were actually great together...

Sorry, kind of forgot it was a holiday weekend...neglected to stop at the Indonesian place before holiday shutdown. It'll have to be this week for the rice pudding...

LoneSavant's instructions sound like exactly what I do, except I use a standard cookie sheet.

I went through a big socca phase a couple summers ago. The secrets as far as I can tell are: a very hot oven, good olive oil, and lots and lots of freshly ground pepper. You have to make sure that your chickpea flour truly browns: undercooked chickpea flour is way gross-tasting. The recipe I use is here. Good luck! mark

So who's going to finish off the last 4 recipes? I'm thinking of trying the purple rice pudding.

I just made this for the first time a couple weeks ago...great stuff.

I wouldn't give up on the natural light: we have pretty challenging light here as well during the winter months, but I've found that by using a tripod, no flash, and then nudging up the brightness and saturation in a photo editor, I can get something that looks reasonable.

Thanks for the update....as for Italian stuff, keep checking the little Turkish/Moroccan places you come across, I've been surprised by how many of them here in town carry good Italian canned tomatoes and interesting pasta varieties... mark

Father-in-law "doesn't like curry". You can serve him a vindaloo, masaman, rendang, whatever, and he'll love it...just don't tell him it's a "curry" when he asks what it is. And he's an excellent cook (Italian).

I'm more skeptical about the asparagus, frankly... I live above a Turkish-Moroccan grocer who (seasonally) sells big wedges of a pumpkin-like beast, pre-cut into pieces that weigh about 1 kilo each. I don't imagine that you'd find a pumpkin soup with asparagus in Morocco, but I would wager that pumpkins are in common use and have been for at least a couple of hundred years. Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Food has a Moroccan Pumpkin Soup in it, as well as 7 other pumpkin recipes.... A completely cheapo Moroccan cookbook I've got has a recipe for a tajine with lentils and pumpkin, and a pumpkin and potato stew with honey and raisins. The pairings with potato and lentils suggest that this is not an exotic ingredient, but something that has been grouped in with the "cucina povera" staples. Spices? Assuming you're leaving out the asparagus: cinnamon for sure, cumin, and probably a touch of harissa and cilantro. This is actually quite a popular soup here in Amsterdam these days, I never actually considered that it might be Moroccan in origin...but we do have a ton of Moroccans here. ETA: Here's an interesting link that uses a Moroccan Pumpkin Soup recipe to explore the migration of Jewish food culture, and quotes Claudia Roden about pumpkin coming to Morocco via Spanish conquistadors...